Where the Steps Were

Class with Miss D. gives the students at Pleasant Hill Elementary the confidence they need to move on to their new school. The third-graders are sad that this will be their last year at Pleasant Hill Elementary before their school is torn down. Poems narrated in the voices of five different students—Dawn, Kayla, Jonathan, Anthony, and Carmen—relate the events of their last year together with their teacher, Miss D. The year is busy as the students, each facing a challenge at home, prepare to put on a play, take field trips to a local farm, and do experiments in the science lab. They are studying the Civil War and key figures in the civil rights movement. When the students go to a play in a real theatre, they are kicked out for no good reason. Miss D. helps the students write letters to the theater manager, demanding to know why they weren't allowed to see the play. Is it because their skin is black?